Hastings volunteers from International WeloveU Foundation came together over the weekend to clean up the Chatham Park on Chatham Road in Flaxmere.
More than 20 volunteers were invited to come together for the Hastings Community Clean-up event.
Fourteen adults and four children under 14 attended the Sunday event, coming from Flaxmere, Hastings, Napier and Haumoana.
Event organiser Sala Leota said the group collected 19 rubbish bags weighing 190kgs and retrieved three tyres and one bucket of broken glass.
Leota explained the most memorable moment was when they were working together picking up the rubbish.
"It isn't easy work, but when more people are doing it together with you, the load gets lightened."
The group is also part of a global not-for-profit organisation, International WeloveU foundation, which was also carrying out similar community events throughout New Zealand, in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin simultaneously.
Hastings's clean-up event's purpose was to promote a clean environment and share the love with the community as part of clean-up events on a global scale in June.
Sharing the love as a mother with the community is the theme and motto of International WeloveU foundation. It means "as a mother who loves her children is a selfless act, we try to share this love through selfless acts to the world", said Leota.
International WeLoveU started in Korea in the 1990s, and, since 2001, more than 155,000 members in 65 countries have joined to help improve the well-being of the socially underprivileged.
International WeloveU foundation carries out global charitable events to help global neighbours suffering from disasters, disease, poverty and so on.
Helping children, women, senior citizens, the disabled, disaster victims, refugees, and the poor create communication and harmony in communities.
As an international NGO associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, WeLoveU helps achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
WeLoveU's biggest goal is to establish global networks and partnerships with governments, municipalities, and institutions across national boundaries for the sustainable well-being of the world.
The Hawke's Bay branch of WeloveU helps the community by providing health services and medical relief to poverty-stricken communities, helping with blood drives, and the clean action movement to reduce CO2 emissions, plastic recycling and tree planting events to support the environment.
"We hope more of the community will come and join the following volunteer event," Leota said.